This is one of my all time favorite dishes to make in a pinch, its super easy, delicious and a crowd pleaser. You can substitute the peppers with other kinds of vegetables such as spinach, potatoes, kale etc...

Ingredients:

1 Large Onion diced

2 Garlic finely chopped

2 TBS Oli

1 Red pepper diced

1 yellow pepper diced

1 Orange pepper diced

4 Eggs

12 cherry tomatoes

2 TBS Fresh parsley finely chopped

1 TSP Ras-el-hanout

¼ salt

Sprinkle of red chili flakes (optional)

¼ cup water

Directions:

1)Sauté the onions, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes in a tagine

2)Add ras-el-hanout and salt cook covered on low simmer for about 15 minutes.

3)When the vegetables are soft crack eggs over them and quickly garnish with fresh parsley and sprinkle of chili flakes.

Enjoy with friends and/or family! If you make this recipe, please share a picture with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the #TaraKithchen hashtag.

I hate to bake and for the most part not good at it! But there is something about quiche that I LOVE. So when I came across karane I was thrilled by not only the flavor but also to be able to add a baked dish to my cooking skills. This recipe is fast, easy and very adaptable, you can switch out the ground lamb crust with any other protein or vegetables.

Ingredients for Filling:

1 cup chickpea flour

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Ras-el-hanout

1 tablespoon Harissa

Fresh chopped parsley

1 egg (beaten)

Ingredients for Lamb Crust:

1 pound ground lamb

1 small chopped onion

4 cloves of chopped garlic

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Ras-el-hanout

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°

Mix the chickpea flour, water, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Add the salt, Ras-el-hanout, Harissa, and freshly chopped parsley. Lastly, add a lightly beaten egg to mixture and combine all ingredients.

Take the chopped onion, garlic, and fresh parsley then combine with the ground lamb.

Gently oil a 10" pie dish and evenly spread the ground lamb on the bottom. Add the chickpea flour mixture on top and sprinkle with a dash of Ras-el-hanout.

Bake for 40 minutes

Enjoy with friends and/or family! If you make this recipe, please share a picture with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the #TaraKithchen hashtag.

Directions

1. Peel, and chop the beets into 1/2 inch cubes, put them on a roasting pan drizzle with olive oil, water, salt, black pepper and cover with foil.

2. Roast in a preheated oven (350) until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until fork tender.

3. When the beets are cool enough transfer them to a serving dish.

4. You will want to make your Honey Orange Syrup next. In a medium pan combine the orange juice, honey, garlic, black pepper, cumin, coriander, raisins, and fresh sliced mint leaves on high heat until their is a syrupy texture and the raisins are plump. Remove from heat.

Its an understatement to say I loved the food in Morocco on my first trip. I had never had food like this before, everything we ate was AMAZING! the salads, soups, and ofcourse the tagine's. Tagine's that were delicate, beautiful, decadent and all at the same time. Once I returned to New York I became obsessed with trying to cook tagine's, but my initial attempts were AWFUL! I was not able to replicate the delicate balance of flavors or get my ingredient proportions right. Partly I think I might have been trying to cook with an "Indian" touch, which of course was not giving me the Moroccan food I was craving so much.

Luckily or unluckily it took almost a year for Muntasim's immigration paperwork to process. During this time I spent a week every month with him hanging out in Marrakech. I call this our year of "dating" and it also doubled as a year long honeymoon! We made the most of these trips, often traveling to other towns and cities within Morocco and also taking a few short trips to Spain. And when we stayed home I spent most of my time with Ayesha our cook. From her I learnt many of the basics that the cookbooks were not teaching me.

The following vegan recipe is one of the first that I perfected and made often in my Manhattan apartment. It still remains one of my favorites.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium size onion sliced

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 tbs oil

• 2 tps ras-el-hanout

• 1 tsp salt

• 2 tbs dry parsley flakes

• 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped finely

• 1/2 cup carrots peeled and chopped into 1" pieces

• 1 small potato cut into small cubes

• 1/3 cup green peas

• 2 medium size tomatoes chopped

• 1 cup water

Directions:

1) Add all ingredients to a cooking pot or tagine, cover and let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

Serve:

With bread, or over rice and couscous!

Enjoy with friends and/or family! If you make this recipe, please share a picture with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the #TaraKithchen hashtag.

After a complicated and year long immigration process, Muntasim moved to the US in March of 2008. We had decided long before he moved that we would pursue both our dream of owning a business. I had been working in publishing in Mahanttan for more than a decade and although loved my job was not satisfied with its many limitations and corporate structure. I wanted to be my own boss, have my own hours, do something that fueled me daily and most importantly have Mondays off. Have always been allergic to Mondays!

We tossed around many ideas one of which was to open an Indian restaurant in our neighborhood in Harlem. But the cost of doing business in NYC proved prohibitive. That summer on a trip to visit my parents in Niskayuna Muntasim saw a sign in the window for rent in downtown Schenectady. At first skeptical about moving from the city "back home" upon seeing the space and meeting Paul S. (tina thats your brother) who was the landlord I agreed. Financially the numbers worked and we were able to open a Moroccan and Indian import shop called "Tara" at 426 State Street in the heart of the developing downtown scene, just a couple doors down from Proctors.

That fall the Schenectady Greenmarket (SGM) opened in Robb Alley inside Proctors. We would see droves of people walking by the store and going inside to the market. We wanted to get a booth at the market and when I made inquiries I was told I would not be able to sell any of my store products as they were imported, but they mentioned there was a need for food vendors. Aha! I can do this I thought.

Next Muntasim and I started exploring options of how we could become food vendors at the market without having access to a commercial kitchen to cook at. I spoke to the health department and they had some ideas on how we could cook on site. In the spring of 2009 we entered the outdoor SGM and started selling "Street Foods of India". The rest as they say is history.

This is one of the many recipes I created for my SGM booth.

4 s e r v i n g s

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion chopped

• 6 cloves of garlic

• 1 tbs ras-el-hanout

• 1 whole preserved lemon pulp removed

• 12 green olives

• 2 lb bag frozen spinach

Directions:

1. Sauté the onions in olive oil until softened and then add garlic, spices, green olives and preserved lemons.

2. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes allowing all the flavors to

meld together.

3. Add spinach, stir and cook with the pot covered on low heat for about

15 minutes or until the spinach is completely wilted.

4. Remove from heat and blend with a hand blender or in a food processor, adding additional

olive oil if needed.

Serve warm with bread or use as a spread in sandwiches or spoon over grilled fish and chicken.

Enjoy with friends and/or family! If you make this recipe, please share a picture with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the #TaraKithchen hashtag.